Living operators
PBSA, BTR and co-living, where a resident judges the whole building on how fast somebody answered them.
Where it breaks
A small sample of the problems we hear most often in living operators. Not a complete list, and not all of them will be yours.
- 01
A year of lettings inside eight weeks
Most of the year's leasing happens in a short window. Enquiry volume triples and the team doesn't, and the enquiries answered slowest go to the scheme down the road.
- 02
You find out in August that a building is short
Every system reports where bookings are today. None of them says where the curve lands in September. The last point at which pricing, an incentive or a nominations conversation can still change the answer is February, and by then the report has only ever told you the past.
- 03
Residents message on five channels
WhatsApp, Instagram, the resident app, email and the front desk. A maintenance report sent to Instagram at eleven at night reaches the maintenance team when somebody scrolls back.
- 04
The turn is a spreadsheet and a phone camera
A building empties in days and refills weeks later. Every room has to be cleared, cleaned, inspected against the check-in condition, damage photographed and costed, repairs raised and closed, and marked ready. Nobody can say at four on a Friday how many rooms are ready and which are blocked on what. Now fixed terms have gone in the private sector, that same work happens all year instead of one week in July.
- 05
Maintenance triaged by whoever picks up
A leak and a broken blind arrive the same way and hold the same priority until a person sorts them, which happens in the morning.
- 06
The arrears chase is a person, and it's delicate
Rent arrives in instalments tied to the academic year, so a missed one is a large sum. The escalation runs reminder, notice, guarantor, recovery, and it's all manual. Push too hard on a nominated resident and the complaint reaches the university guaranteeing a third of your beds.
What we'd build
A small sample of the kind of thing we build. What we'd actually scope depends on which of the problems above is costing you most.
Enquiries answered in minutes through the peak
An agent handles enquiries on WhatsApp, Instagram, email, the app and the phone, answers on your policies, books viewings and hands over the ones that need a person. Anything that needs action routes to whoever owns it. The same team covers three times the volume.
Higher enquiry-to-booking conversion through the peak, on the headcount you already have.
Where each building lands, said in February
The booking curve for every building read against its own history and the city it sits in, and turned into a projected final occupancy with a range on it. A building tracking to miss says so while pricing and incentives can still change the outcome.
Occupancy decisions taken while pricing and incentives can still change the answer.
The turn run as one tracked job
Every room in a state: checked out, cleared, cleaned, inspected, repairs raised, ready. Inspection done on a phone with the check-in condition alongside it, so damage is identified against the record and goes into a recharge with the photographs attached. Contractors update the same record as the in-house team.
Rooms ready sooner, more damage recharged, and a live answer on what is blocked and on what.
Maintenance triaged on arrival
Reports classified by urgency and trade as they come in, raised in the PMS, with the resident told what happens next. Emergencies reach a person immediately.
Improved resident satisfaction and retention, and a time-to-resolution SLA you can hold to.
The arrears sequence run for you
Every instalment date watched, contact made before it rather than after, then reminder, notice and guarantor worked in order with everything logged. Nominated residents flagged before any hard action, so the university relationship isn't the thing that pays for the collection.
Lower arrears, contact made earlier, and the nominations relationship protected.
Recognise any of these?
Thirty minutes with a founder. Walk us through the problems your team lives with and we'll talk about whether any of it has to stay that way.